The unprecedented size of the AIDS epidemic in Africa and other parts of the developing world will have dramatic consequences for the societies concerned. In recent years, an increasing amount of new evidence has become available from specialist community-based studies, national surveys and censuses. Various analytical techniques have been developed that allow us to use these data in new ways. In addition to demographers and epidemiologists, social scientists and economists are now starting to look at empirical evidence of the effects of HIV, at family, community and national level. While modeling was the primary basis for assessment of the size and future of the epidemic in the past, increasingly use is made of real data to inform policy and to evaluate national responses to the epidemic. This three-day conference aims to summarize our wider knowledge of the demographic and social impacts of the epidemic, and to broaden the range of effects at we scrutinize critically, to include macro- and micro-economic impacts. Three days of presentation and discussion on demographic, socio-economic and policy impact will lead to a publication that aims to inform researchers and policy makers worldwide. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will organize the conference in collaboration with the University of Natal.